Vacuum tube



April 22, 1924. 1,491,362

H. E. SHREEVE VACUUM TUBE Filed Feb. 2O 1918 Y my; Alfy.

Patented Apr. 22, 1924.

` raiser narran sraras earanrferriea.

HERBERT E. SHREEVE, MILLBURN, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR TO WESTERN ELECTRIC COMPANY, INCORPORATED, F NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION 0F N/EW YORK.

VACUUM TUBE.

Application led February 20, 1918. Serial No. 218,254.

To all "to/omv z't may concern:

Be it known that I, HERBERT E. SHREEVE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Millburn, in the county of Essex and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Vacuum Tubes, of which the following is a full, clear, concise, and exact description.

This invention relates to improvements in vacuum tubes7 and more particularly it relates to improvements in shells for audions whereby each audion is provided with terminal connections which may be readily made or severedwithout disturbing the fixed wiring of the circuits allied therewith.

As is well known in the art, it has been found convenient to surround the base of the glass bulb of a vacuum tube by a tubular shell or collar having a base-piece on which are mounted terminal connections for the leading-in wires to the various electrodes of the tube; and these terminal connections are usually arranged to cooperate with spring clips or other forms ofcontacts in a base or socket adapted to receive the collar.

One object of this invention is to provide a new form of shell for vacuum tubes of a type which possesses many novel advantages over those heretofore employed, such as ease of construction and attachment to a tube for the various functions it performs.

In the preferred form of this invention, the hollow cylindrical form of the shell is made from thin sheet material of the proper dimensions with its ends suitably welded or fastened together. -)learvone en'd of the cylinder, and projectin radially inward, is provided a suitable ledge .or shoulder on which may rest an vinsulation base-piece to which are attached contact posts or other suitable terminal connections for the vacuum 'tube electrodes. The base-piece on being.

put in position may be held firmly in place against the shoulder by crimping the lower e ges of the walls of the cylinder over the base-piece. When such a shell is applied to surroundv the base of a vacuum tube, the upper Vedges of the shell, on account of its thinness, may be made to fit snugly to the walls of the tube. In order that the leadingin conductors may be readily attached'vto the external contact post, the insulation basepiece is preferably made in a more or less the base-piece so as to fill up the space between the bulb and the collar. .With such a structure, the collar is snugly and firmly secured to the bulb.

These and other novel elements of the structure will be better understood from the following detailed description taken in connection with the-accompanying drawings, in which Fig. 3 represents one modification of this invention and Figs.y 1 and 2 are details thereof. Fig 6 is a modification of Fig. 3 in which an additional contact post is provided. Figs. 4 and 5 are details of Fig. 6. Fig. 7 shows this invention mounted on the neck of a vacuum tube. Fig. 8 shows thel form of this invention shown in Fig. 3 in connection with a socket with which it is adapted to cooperate. Fig. 9 is a crosssectional view taken along the section lino 9-9 of Fi 8.

First refirred to in Fig. 3, this illustrates a shell composed of a collar 12 and an i11- sulation. base 13. The details of the collar are shown in Fig: 2, while Fig. 1 illustrates the details of the insulation base. As shown in Fig. 2, the collar is composed of a sheet of material which has been shaped in the form of a cylinder with its ends welded or otherwise suitably fastened together at the points 14. Near one end of the cylinder is Van outwardly facing groove which forms, on the inner Wall, a ridge 1 5, which, as shown in Fig. 3, serves as a shoulder against which the insulation base may rest. A projection 17 on the inner Wall is also provided whose function Will' be explained later. 18 is a pin that is adapted to fit into a slot in. a vacuum tube socket, as will 4be' hereinafter described. If it is desired 'to applyl any patentmarking to the vacuumtube, this may be readily stamped on the shell and owing to the difficulty of stamping cylindrical objects, it hasbeen found preferable to do the stamping while the sheet material of the shell is flat.

As shown in Fig. 1, the insulation base is of a Web-like'form having three contact posts or electrodes 20, 21 and 22, suitably mounted thereon. Each of these posts is in electrical Contact with a clip 25 having a tapered portion which projects beyond the edges of the insulation and to which Wiring connectionmay be readily made. of the web has a notch 27 therein, Which is adapted to engage Awith the projection 17 of the collar, whereby the position of the contact posts is determined with respect to the pin 18 when the web is put into position against the shoulder 15, as shown in Fig. 3. After the web has been inserted in its proper position, the edges of the cylinder may be crimped over at a plurality of points 30 to hold the Web in place.

In Fig. 6 is shown a shell haring a collar 12 (see Fig. 5) which is of similar structure to the collar of Fig. 2, but the web 33, as shown in Fig. 4, has four arms, each having a `contact post 31 provided with a clip mounted thereon. The web is -fastened in the collar as has been described above.

Fig. 7 shows the shell after it has been placed around the neck of a vacuum tube l0. The shell may be secured firmly to'the neck by some suitable sealing material `which may be poured 'through the arms ot the web and over the web until it is flush with the edges of the collar. Four leading-in, conductors 41, 42, 43, 44 to the electrodes ot the tube are shown, each conductor being suitably fastened to one of the contact posts.

In Fig. 8 the sealing material between the neck of the bulb and the collar has been omitted in order to show more plainly the manner of connecting the leading-in conductors to the contact. posts. The tube 40 is an audion of the ordinary type having three electrodes therein, a filament 4G, a grid 47 and an anode 48. Such a tube has tour leading-in conductors 49, two ot' the leads being for the filament, one for the grid and one for the anode. It the shell surrounding the neck of the tube has only three contact posts, three of these leads may be connected to the three posts, while the fourth lead may be soldered or otherwise attached to the collar itself, thereby employing the collar as a terminal connection. One form of av socket with which such a shell may be engaged is shown in this figure to be composed of a base-piece 51 and a socket member 52 integral therewith. Attached to the basepiece is a plurality of contact pieces 53, 54, 55 and 56, the i'irst three of which end in the spring contacts 57, 58 and 59 which are-disposed under the socket opening in such a manner that each makes contact with one ot the contact posts of the shell when the shell is .inserted in the socket with the pin 18 in the slot 62.A The fourth contact piece 56 v(see Fig. 9) is electrically connected to the metallic socket member 52, and consequently One arm' connected to the collar 12 so that said contact piece forms an external terminal connection for the leading-in wire which is connected to the collar.

Fig. 9 illustrates how the contact piece 56 may be electrically connected to the basepieee 51 by a counterfsunk bolt 64C which is in electrical contact with the base-piece 51 and the contact piece 56.

The shell illustrated in Fig. (i, which has four contact posts, is adapted to readily cooperate With a socket somewhat similar to that of Fig. 8 comprising an additional spring contact instead of the connection through the collar of the shell and the basepie'ce of the socket. Such a socket with four spring contacts is illustrated and described in my Patent No. 1,325,865, December 221, 1919, vacuum tube sockets.

This invention isnot limited to the two forms described above. for, as is evident toA one skilled in the art, various modications .may be made therein without departing in any wise from the spirit of this invention as defined in the appended claims.

lVhat is claimed is:

l. A shell for the neck of a vacuum tube, comprising a collar, a Web of insulation material partially closing one end of said col-' lar, terminal connections mounted on said web for said tube, said shell being mounted on said neck, and sealing material surrounding said web.

2.,A shell for the neck of a vacuum tube, comprising a collar, a web of insulation material partially closing one end of said collar, terminal connections mounted on said web for said tube, and means comprising a sealing material for surrounding said web and holding said collar to said tube.

3. The combination of a socket having terminals, a vacuum tube comprising electrodes having different characteristics adapting them for connection to different circuits, a collar for the neck of said tube, an insulating element carrying electrical terminals for said electrodes, certain of said socket terminals being adapted to be simultaneously connected to corresponding ones of said tube terminals, means for determining the. relative angular positions of Said collar and said socket with respect to the longitudinal axis of said collar, and means for so ixing the relative angular positions of said carrying means and said collar with respect to said axis as to insure that only corresponding ones of said socket terminals and said tube terminals will be engaged.

4. A shell for the neck of a vacuum tube having electrodes, comprising a collar, a shoulder projecting from the inner surface of said collar, a web of insulation material comprising a central portion with radial arms resting on said shoulder, terminal connections for lsaid electrodes comprising .a

l :menace Contact post mounted on each of a plurality of said arms, and a sealing material surrounding said weh' for securing said collar to said tube.

5. A shell for the neck of a Vacuum tube having electrodes, comprisingj a collar, a shoulder projecting from the inner surface of said collar, a web ofinsulation material supported hy saidshoulder,` terminal ccnl nections mounted on said web for said elec' trodes, and means for determining the position of said webion said shoulder. a

6. "lfhel combination of a socket having V terminals, a shell for the neck of a vacuum tube, said shell comprising a collar, a web oiinsulation material, terminal connections tube, said shell 'comprising-a collarfa Web of insulation material, terminal connections mounted on Vsaid `ive-b for said tube, ccuphng means for determining the posltion of said shell in said socket, and a cooperating notch and projection for fixing the osition of said web with respect to said she ,whereby the terminals on said web make contact in a predetermined manner).with the terminals of said socket.

8. A shell :for the neck of a vacuum tube havin electrodes, comprising a collar, a shoul er projecting from the inner surface supported by said shoulder, terminal connections projecting through said web for said electrodes, and 'means for determining the position of said web on said shoulder.

*9. A'shell for a neck 'of4 a vacuum tube having-'i electrodes, comprising a collar, a

plate of insulating material adapted to occupy a certain angular position in the outer end of said collar-with respect to the axis of said collar perpendicular to the plane oi said plate, terminal connections carried `by said late for said electrodes, and means where y in iitting said'plate in saidcollar the said certain angular position yfor said plate with respect to said collar may be readily fixed.

l0. A shell for the neck of a vacuum tube havin@r electrodes, comprising a collar, a shoulder projecting from the inner surface bi said collar, a web of insulation material supported by said'shoulder and havin a notch in its edge, a projection on said co lar adjacent said shoulder, said projection adapted to register with said notch to holdr the web in a definite position in the shell.

11. rlhe combination of a socket having.

terminals, a shell for the neck of a vacuum tube, said shell comprising a collar, a web of insulation material having a notch in its ed e, terminal connections mounted on said We for said tube, means for determinin the position of said shell, with respect to sai socket, and means for fixing the position of said web with respect to said shell com rising an inner projection on said collar a apted to register with said notch, whereby the terminals on said web may contact in a predetermined manner -with'the terminals 'of said socket.

l2. A. shell or'the neck of a vacuum tube plate of insulating material litted in thev outer end of said collar, and terminal conL nections carried by said `plate for said electrodes` said plate and vsaid collar being so ormed as to determine the angular positionof said collar, a iveb of. insulation material/ef said plate in said collar With respect` to the axis of said collar perpendicular to the plane f said plate. ln witness whereof, I hereunto subscribe my name this 21st day of January, A. D. 1918. I I o i v HERBERT E. SHREEVE. 

